Perpetual Incarnation Celebration

Posted on January 29, 2026January 29, 2026 by Edward Dalcour

The Perpetual Incarnation Celebration: The Hallmark of Christian Doctrine

Every annual December 25th, many Christians celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately, the import of what Christmas represents has evaporated; and instead it has become a secular event. In far too many churches, the birth of Christ sermon is shared with Santa Clause pictures, statues of reindeers and snowmen scattered around the church—at these venues Christmas has become a distortion of the incarnation. Even so, pastors seem obligated to give a limited Christmas message mainly consisting of the manger, animals, wise men, and the shepherds in the field.

Although these things are indeed included in the Gospel narrative, the most glorious event was not merely the birth, rather it was the conception – the hallmark and necessity of our redemption.

The perpetual Incarnation should be taught throughout the year in tandem with other essential Christian doctrines.

Ps. 49:7-8: “Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, ⁸ for the ransom of their life is costly, and can never suffice” (ESV).

No mere man can—but the Son as God-man, whose sacrifice had infinite value. In His human nature Christ lived the perfect life – fulfilling the “covenant of works” (vicariously) which Adam did not fulfill. (cf. Gen. 2:17; Hosea 6:7; Rom. 5:5-13). As the “last Adam” – Christ met all the requirements of the justice of God; not only His substitutionary cross work (passive obedience), but also, in His perfect and substitutionary life (active obedience).

Rom. 5:10: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved [‘from the wrath of God,’ v. 9] by His life” (NASB). Christ as God-Man accomplished an actual redemption, a real propitiation.

The atoning work of the Son in His physical body accomplished all that was necessary to secure our justification (Rom. 5:6-10; Heb. 10:11-14). His work was definite, eternal, and infallible.

Col. 1:21-22: “making peace through the blood of his cross…. ²² but now He has reconciled you His physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before Him.”

The Incarnation

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel” – 2 Tim. 2:8 (ESV)

Biblical Affirmation

John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God [the Father], and the Word [as to His nature] was God.”

The verb translated “was” is from the imperfect verb ēn (from eimi, “to be, am”), which is exclusively applied to the Word in verses 1, 2, 4, 9, and 10. The imperfect tense expresses a past ongoing or repeated action; here denoting the eternal existence of the Word—He was always existing—no starting point. This verb is in contrast to the aorist verb egeneto (from ginomai, “became, came to be”) – referring to all things that came into existence, that is, had a starting point (as in creation, vv. 3, 10; and John the Baptist in v. 6: “there came a man”). It is not until verse 14 that egeneto is applied to the Word “becoming flesh” (incarnation).

John 1:14: “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence [or ‘tabernacled’] among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father” (NET).

The verb eskēnōsen (‘took up residence,’ tabernacled, dwelt among us’) derives its meaning from the Hebrew term sākan referring to Yahweh coming down to earth to dwell (cf. Exod. 25:8). As seen, in John 1:1, the Apostle John positively affirmed that the Word was eternal/preexistent; distinct from God the Father; and ontologically God. John shows that the incarnation of the person of God the Word was not merely a temporary theophany or huiophany.[1] Rather, “the Word became flesh”— adding (not subtracting) a new nature (humanity) permanently.

John 1:18, which is the last verse of John’s high christological prologue: “No one has ever seen God [‘at any time’]. The uniquely existing God [monogenēs Theos] who is [ho ōn, lit., ‘the One who is, timelessly existing’] close to the Father’s side, has revealed Him” (exēgēsato, lit., “has exegeted Him”; ISV).

The Carmen Christi (Hymn to Christ, as God)

Paul’s christological hymn was utilized by the early Christian church to teach and magnify the preexistence, incarnation, and the true deity of Jesus Christ. Paul exemplifies the ultimate act of humility: God the Son becoming obedient to death on a cross. Paul provides a well-defined summary of the gospel of the Son.

Phil. 2:6 starts with the affirmation of the true deity of the Son:

“Who, though He was always being[2] in the nature of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but He emptied Himself[3] by taking the nature of a servant, having been made in the likeness of men. ⁸ And having been found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name [viz., authority/power] that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall will bow … ¹¹ and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”[4]

In verses 10-11, Paul loosely quotes the last phrase of the LXX (i.e., Septuagint[5]) of Isa. 45:23: “That to Me every knee will bend and every tongue will confess to God.” These actions are to Yahweh alone and are prophetic – future tenses are used: “will bend, will confess.”

Note Paul modifications to the original reading of Isa. 45:23:

Hina. He introduces verse 10 with a purpose and result clause indicated by the conjunction hina (“in order that, so that”): i.e., the purpose of Christ being highly exalted (v. 9) was for the result (“in order that”) of every knee bending and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord (vv. 10-11), to the glory of God the Father.

Paul changes the future indicative verbs of the LXX of Isa. 45:23 (“will bend, will confess”) – to aorist subjunctives (“shall bend, shall confess”).

These modifications clearly identify Jesus as the Yahweh and the fulfillment of the Isaiah future prophecy – before whom every knee shall bend and every tongue shall confess that Kurios Iēsous Christos (lit., “Lord Jesus Christ”).[6]

Lastly, note the grammatical parallel between 2 Cor. 8:9 with Phil. 2:6-11:

Nature as God (preincarnate):

2 Cor. 8:9 (NASB): “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich” (plousios ōn, present participial phrase, lit., He was “rich being”- i.e., rich in glory).

Phil. 2:6: “although He was always existing in the nature of God” (huparchōn, present participle, “always existing” as God): “rich being” – “God being.”

Incarnation:

2 Cor. 8:9: “Yet for your sakes He became poor” (eptōcheusen, aorist indicative).

Phil. 2:7: “He emptied [ekenōsen, aorist indicative] Himself”: “became poor” – “emptied Himself.” Both verbs are aorist indicatives—i.e., punctiliar (once) past action.

Means and purpose of the incarnation of God the Son:

2 Cor. 8:9: “in order that [hina] through His poverty [incarnation], you could become rich” (rich in glory, i.e., salvation).

Phil. 2:7-11: Christ self-emptied and self-humbled Himself, became obedient to death, “in order that … every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Carmen Christi (Phil. 2:6-11) so distinctly affirms the gospel of the Son: from His eternal preexistence subsisting as truly God to His self-emptying (incarnation), atoning cross work, and glorification – to the glory of God the Father.

The incarnation was perpetual

Jesus is the two natured person (Acts 1:11; 17:31; 1 Tim. 2:5), contra the temporary corporal appearances of the angel of the Lord in the OT.

Col. 2:9: “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells [katoikei, present tense, ‘always dwells’] in bodily form” (NASB). The Son in His incarnate state is presently the intermediary (or “Mediator”), Priest, and the propitiation for our sins.

So essential was the perpetual incarnation that the Apostle John sees it as a defining mark of true Christianity; and anyone denying it is “the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 1:7).

1 John 4:2-3: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come [elēluthota, perfect tense, lit, ‘has come and remains’] in the flesh is from God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess Jesus [as coming and remaining in the flesh] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist….” (NASB).

Fundamental Truths of the Incarnation

God the Son became flesh—truly God, truly man.

The atoning sacrifice and mediatorial role of Christ was accomplished in the context of His incarnational work.

The incarnation is a gospel essential.

The incarnation is an evangelistic teaching that should be always recognized and celebrated!

NOTES

[1] Theophany (Theos, “God” + phainō, appearance). Huiophany (Huios, “Son”)—namely, preincarnate Son appearances (esp. the angel of the Lord; cf. Gen. chaps. 18-19; Exod. 3:2, 6-14 et al.).

[2] The phrase “always being” is from the Greek present participle, huparchōn denoting an ongoing existence – thus, the Son was always subsisting in the nature of God.

[3] “He emptied Himself,” from the phrase heauton ekenōsen (lit., “He Himself emptied”). The reflexive pronoun, heauton (“He Himself”) indicates that the action of the incarnation, that is, the emptying was accomplished by the Son. “He Himself.

[4] In this translation, I had rendered several verbs tenses literally for emphasis.

[5] The Septuagint is Greek trans. of the OT, which was used frequently by the NT authors for their quotations of the OT. The Septuagint is abbreviated as LXX “seventy,” which was the traditional number of translators (c. mid-third cent. B.C.).

[6] Note that in Greek, Paul places Kurios (“Lord”) in the emphatic position (first word in the clause)— to draw attention to his christological emphasis of Isa. 45:23: Jesus is the Lord (YHWH) of Isaiah 45:23.

Deny Yourself, Pick up the Cross, and Follow Christ – Luke 9:23-25

Posted on February 20, 2021March 7, 2021 by Edward Dalcour

A vital part of the believers’ progressive (practical) sanctification is to do the commandants given by Christ in Luke 9:23—denying one’s self, taking up the cross, and following Christ.

Luke 9:23-25: “And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. ²⁴ For whoever wishes to save his life will lose It, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. ²⁵ For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?”

Context. Note the context in the previous passages (Luke 9:18-22), which is the identification of Christ (see the parallel account in Matt. 16:13-18):

And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?’ ¹⁹ They answered and said, ‘John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” ²⁰ And He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.” ²¹ But He warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, ²²saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day.”

Jesus’ first questions to the “disciples” was regarding who “who do the people say that I am?” (they gave inadequate answers). Then, Jesus asked them specifically: “Who do you say that I am?” It was the most faulty, fearful yet devoted, disciple of them all, who correctly answered and confessed: “The Christ of God.” However, Peter’s full confession is recorded in the parallel account in Matt. 16:16: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Although Peter (like many of us) totally misunderstood Jesus’ mission (esp. Matt. 16:21-23), and made countless mistakes in both word and action, he rightfully saw Jesus as Lord, the Son of God (God in the flesh), the Messiah of Israel. As with all Christians, throughout Peter’s life, he had victories and failures (even after the resurrection; cf. Gal. 2:11), but he grew spiritually and doctrinally until the point of his death. Recalling, Jesus had prophesied of Peter’s death in John 21:14-19, “signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, follow Me!” (v. 19)—and he did just that – the rest of his life unto his death.

From the start of Peter’s journey as an apostle of Christ, to his death, in spite of his many mistakes in his Christian life, Jesus was his Lord and Savior. Although, his ongoing sanctification and understanding of the work and mission of Christ was developmental and progressive and at times faltered, his faith in the Christ as “the Son of the living God” was unwavering.

What I find interesting is that immediately after Peter’s high Christological Confession (“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:18), Jesus foretold that He must “be killed” (Luke 9:22) Peter “criticized” the Lord Jesus for saying He must die: “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” Jesus, then, responds in Luke 9:23, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Matt. 16:23 adds, “Get behind me Satan”).

Jesus indicates to His disciples (who heard Jesus’ rebuke) that true discipleship can not be realized unless one is willing to forsake it all. This would mean fully trusting Him in all things. Job demonstrated this kind of trust when he said, “Though He slay me, I will trust in Him” (Job 13:15).

Peter eventually grew in knowledge and understanding of the Savior and His mission. This is apparent in John 6 regarding Jesus’ seemingly difficult statements of eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John 6:54). In response to this, “many of His disciples left” (v. 66), which prompted Jesus to ask (v. 67) “the twelve, ‘You do not want to leave also, do you?’ ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. ⁶⁹And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’”

Denying oneself involves humility before the Lord.

Peter makes this point in 1 Pet. 5:6-7: “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you” (NASB). In verse 6, the verb tapeinoō (“be humble”) is in the aorist imperative—, which indicates an urgent command, as in Be humble right now!—“under the mighty hand of God.” Keep in mind, the OT writers frequently used God’s hand as a symbol of discipline (Exod. 3:19; 6:1; Job 30:21; Ps. 32:4) and deliverance (Deut. 9:26; 32:32; Ezek. 20:34).

But how are we to be humble ourselves under the mighty hand God. The means of doing this is found in verse 7: “By casting all your cares [‘anxiety, worry’] on Him” (NET). The verb epiripsantes is the aorist participle of epiriptō (“to throw, cast upon”). So the verb would literally be translated as, “casting” (ESV, Holmen) or “having cast” (NASB 2020), or better “By casting” (NET). Unfortunately, translations such as the NIV (even the 2011 updated) make the participle independent of verse 6 by translating the participle as “Cast,” the beginning of a new sentence: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (NIV).

In other words, the very means of obeying the urgent commandment in verse 6 (“be humble under the mighty hand of God”) is found in the action of the participle: “By casting all your anxiety [or ‘worry’[1]] on Him—because He cares.”

Luke 9:23: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Although following Christ is a commandant (present imperative), the two preceding verbs arnēsasthō (“let him deny”) and aratō (“let him take up”) are in the aorist imperative—thus, as seen above, a commandment that stresses urgency— “Do it now!” commandment! Commenting on the parallel passage in Matt. 16:24, Calvin says of the phrase, “And let him take up his cross”:

As God trains his people in a peculiar manner, in order that they may be conformed to the image his Son, we need not wonder that this rule is strictly addressed to them. . . . (Calvin, Commentary of Matthew).

9:24 “For whoever wishes to save his life [psuchēn, “soul”] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Nothing is more important in this life than to live for and serve the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? As seen, Peter came to understand this clearly: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life” (John 6:68). We as Christians have nowhere else to go except to the Lord Jesus—who has given us the words of eternal Life: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (see also 1 John 5:20). In our stressful, unpredictable lives all we can do is ask: “Lord, to whom shall we go?”

9:25 “For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself?” For us, nothing, but Christ matters. Without the Son, the soul will perish: “The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:12; cf. John 3:36).

9:26 “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Contextually, this statement was in the present state of the looming event of His death. However, there seems to be wider application (whether the latter phrase is referring to the final Eschaton [Second Coming] or, as many see it, the Transfiguration in vv. 28-36). The term translated, “ashamed” is from epaischunomai. Note the prefix of the verb, epi (“on, upon”) with aischunō (“to dishonor, disgrace”).

This verb shows the personal aspect of the disgrace or dishonor. Paul is “not ashamed [same term] of the gospel” (Rom. 1:16). Christian teachers even more, should not be ashamed of the Son of God and His work; or that He alone is the only means of salvation. True believers who love the Lord should never be ashamed of proclaiming the Trinity and justification through faith alone.

Notes

[1] The term anxious/worry is from the Greek word merimna, which carries the meaning of being “drawn in opposite directions; pulled apart from both sides.”

“The Hymn to Christ – as God”- The Gospel of the Son

Posted on June 18, 2020 by Edward Dalcour

Aside from the Christological affirmation in v. 6 (“who always subsisting/existing in form/nature of God”), one of my favorite sections of the Hymn is found in vv. 7-8: “But He EMPTIED Himself [reflexive – a self-emptying], TAKING [the means of His self-emptying] the form/nature of a bond-servant BEING MADE in the likeness of men. 8 BEING FOUND in appearance as a man, He HUMBLED Himself [reflexive – a self-humbling] by BECOMING obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Paul in vv. 10-11, concludes his hymn by showing that Jesus is indeed the YHWH and prophetic fulfillment of Isaiah 45:23—before whom every knee shall bend and every tongue confess.

In Paul’s hymn, he provides an illustration of the ultimate example of humility (viz., God becoming flesh), the entire gospel is presented in this brief hymn (the deity and preexistence of the person of the Son in distinction from the Father, His incarnational emptying and perfect obedience, atoning cross work, and exaltation).

Thus, this is a good diagram of content for Christians (esp. evangelists) in their proclamation of the gospel.